Standard transaction cards such as regular credit cards are familiar to most people. A transaction card usually has information about the cardholder, such as name and account number, printed and/or embossed on the surface of the card. Transaction cards frequently contain a magnetic stripe which is encoded with cardholder data as well. The process of printing/embossing/encoding the cardholder data on each transaction card is known as "personalization." Each transaction card also undergoes a process known as "initialization" in which certain types of information common to all cards in a batch, such as an issuer identifier and batch number, are placed on the card.
Existing transaction cards encode such data in a magnetic stripe on the back of the card but the amount of data that can be held by a magnetic stripe is limited. A new type of transaction card embeds a microprocessor computer chip in the plastic of the card to greatly increase the card's data storage capacity. Additionally, sophisticated card applications specific to the card issuer can execute in certain varieties of the chips, and the chip may also contain a type of operating system. Transaction cards with embedded chips are referred to in the industry as portable programmed data carriers, more commonly called "smart cards." The chip in a smart card can be programmed with initialization and/or personalization data at the same time as the surface of the card is being embossed and/or printed.
The initialization data for a smart card comprises data common to all cards of a specific type. Such data can include application data, security data, and printed data. The application data is common to all cards for a given card application and can include application program code and common data variables that are programmed into the chip. The security data, usually provided as secure keys or security functions, validates the data on the card and prevents fraudulent use of the card. Printed data, such as a logo, bar codes, and various types of numerical information, can be printed on the surface of the card. Some or all of the same data can also be embossed on, or engraved into, the surface of the card. Optical technology also can be employed to make part of the surface of the smart card into a storage medium with data accessible by an appropriate optical reader.
The personalization information for a smart card is similar to the personalization information currently contained on non-chip transaction cards, such as the cardholder's name, account number, card expiration date, and a photograph. Because of its increased storage capacity, the chip in a smart card may contain additional data beyond the basic information on the standard transaction card, including a graphical representation of the individual's signature, data defining the types of service the cardholder is entitled to, and account limits for those services.
Current transaction and smart card issuing systems are fairly inflexible. Most smart card issuing systems must be tailored to meet the requirements of a specific card application that will be programmed on a specific type of smart card under the control of a specific card operating system and to format the data for the card to be compatible with a specific type of personalization equipment chosen to issue the card. The entire issuing system must be re-configured whenever any one of these variables (issuer application, smart card/card operating system, and/or personalization equipment) is changed, increasing the time and cost incurred by the issuer of the card in delivering personalized smart cards to its customers. Similar limitations regarding the need to re-configure the issuing system are present in non-chip transaction card issuing systems. Additionally, many of the current issuing systems lack a viable means to provide dynamic feedback regarding the status of any particular batch of cards in the process to the card issuer.
An alternative transaction card issuing system which is programmable to work with multiple types of transaction cards, multiple types of personalization equipment, and multiple card applications is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,889,941, issued on Mar. 30, 1999, assigned to the assignee of the present application. However, the transaction card issuing system described therein requires that a programmer create a specific application to manage the personalization information and to interface with the card issuing system.
Thus, the increasing demand for transaction cards in general, and smart cards in particular, requires a flexible smart card issuing system that provides a simple interface for inputting personalization information.